She said residents lived in fear of violence from the home’s owner and other managers. Cynthia Jackson, 60, said she had nowhere else to go in August 2019, after she was released from Ben Taub Hospital’s psychiatric ward. “The caseworker (at Ben Taub) told me that they were going to call the group home,” she said. Jackson said many of the residents at the group homes where she lived between August 2019 and August 2020 came from Ben Taub Hospital. If they had an income and Ben Taub would send them there, he would say 'put 'em somewhere,” Jackson said.

HOUSTON – Revelations of dozens of elderly and disabled residents living in squalor at an unlicensed group home in southeast Harris County has sparked investigations by the Sheriff’s office and state agencies. Miles identified the man who operated the Caring Hands group home as 46-year-old Carroll Richardson. Miles said a big problem with unlicensed homes is the lack of regulation. “If they’re unlicensed, they’re unregulated, if they’re unregulated, we can’t control what goes on inside. Right now, group homes inside the Houston city limits must be licensed, while homes in unincorporated areas of the county are not required to be licensed.

HOUSTON – Harris County Precinct 7 deputy constables forced their way into an unlicensed group home in southeast Harris County and found more than three dozen elderly residents, most with medical conditions, crammed into a four-bedroom house with only one working toilet. When deputy constables arrived at the house just after 3 p.m., two attendants inside refused to let them in. The pantry and the refrigerator were barren and residents medications were spread out in plastic containers on the kitchen counter. This is really a shock.”When neighbor Benna McGowen stuck her head inside the front door and saw the living conditions, she couldn’t hold back the tears. Officials said he runs several other similar homes and has been investigated by the Houston Police Department in the past.